Lessons to crack down on cyber-bullies

Date: January 16 2013

Daniel Hurst

School students will learn to be ''safe and respectful digital citizens'' in training designed to combat cyber-bullying.

Amid growing concern over the impact of bullying through social media on the internet and mobile phones, the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, will announce details of an education program to be rolled out in 3200 schools across Australia.

The cyber safety scheme, to be launched in Sydney on Wednesday, covers scenarios young people may face online and how to deal with them.

The interactive sessions are set to include videos and discussion among classmates. They have been developed by Life Education Australia and the online security company McAfee.

Life Education already sends its mobile vans to schools to provide occasional lessons on health, safety and drugs and will now expand the program to include positive digital behaviour.

Australia has about 9400 schools and Life Education says it worked in 3550 of them in 2011.

The online safety lessons will target children in middle primary school years and older - aiming to promote behaviour that lowers the risk of attacks.

An education lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney, Damian Maher, said many year six students were starting to get their own computers and smart phones.

Dr Maher, who specialises in cyber-bullying and computers in schools, said middle primary school was a good time to start having a discussion about online safety.

Not only should students be taught about how to conduct themselves online but also strategies for dealing with cyber-bullying attacks they may encounter, he said.

''There's just so many hidden traps about what happens once you start giving information [over the internet]; what happens to that information and who it goes to,'' Dr Maher said.

''It's very easy to use the technology but it's having the awareness of what the repercussions are.''

Online safety would be a good addition to the programs Life Education already delivered to students, Dr Maher said.

Both major parties have been looking for ways to address cyber-bullying in the lead-up to this year's federal election.

Ms Gillard said last week the government had been talking to Twitter, Facebook and other companies about cyber-bullying and web trolls.

''And we will keep urging these bodies that have some control over content to have policies that mean, not to stop people having a genuine conversation or anything like that, but some of the extremes that have caused real harm, to try to deal with that conduct,'' she said.

The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, has proposed the appointment of a ''children's e-safety commissioner'' and also measures to ensure offensive material can be taken down swiftly.